Perfluorinated Alkyl Acids in Blood Serum from Primiparous Women in Sweden: Serial Sampling during Pregnancy and Nursing, And Temporal Trends 1996–2010

Abstract

We investigated temporal trends of blood serum levels of 13 perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA) in primiparous women (N = 413) from Uppsala County, Sweden, sampled 3 weeks after delivery 1996-2010. Levels of the short-chain perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) increased 11%/y and 8.3%/y, respectively, and levels of the long-chain perfluorononanoate (PFNA) and perfluorodecanoate (PFDA) increased 4.3%/y and 3.8%/y, respectively. Concomitantly, levels of FOSA (22%/y), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS, 8.4%/y), perfluorodecane sulfonate (PFDS, 10%/y), and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA, 3.1%/y) decreased. Thus, one or several sources of exposure to the latter compounds have been reduced or eliminated, whereas exposure to the former compounds has recently increased. We explored if maternal levels of PFOS, PFOA, and PFNA during the early nursing period are representative for the fetal development period, using serial maternal serum samples, including cord blood (N = 19). PFAA levels in maternal serum sampled during pregnancy and the nursing period as well as in cord blood were strongly correlated. Strongest correlations between cord blood levels and maternal levels were observed for maternal serum sampled shortly before or after the delivery (r = 0.70-0.89 for PFOS and PFOA). A similar pattern was observed for PFNA, although the correlations were less strong due to levels close to the method detection limit in cord blood.

Association between prenatal exposure to perfluorinated compounds and symptoms of infections at age 1–4years among 359 children in the Odense Child Cohort

“…This tendency was only statistically significant for PFOA in regard to the co-occurrence of fever and nasal discharge, even though PFOS, PFOA and PFNA concentrations in our study were higher than in the Norwegian study (median, PFOS: 5.5 ng/ml; PFOA: 1.1 ng/ml; PFNA: 0.3 ng/ml). Part of the difference in PFAS concentrations may be due to the fact that Granum et al measured PFASs just before birth, whereas we measured in early pregnancy; serum-PFAS concentrations are known to decrease throughout pregnancy (Glynn et al 2012). In addition, in the Norwegian study, fever was not assessed, and infections were not considered dependent on an elevated body temperature.…”

“…Serum concentrations of PFAS are known to decrease throughout pregnancy, but PFAS measurements at different time points during pregnancy are highly correlated (Glynn et al 2012) and the compounds have long half-lives of 4-5 years (Olsen et al 2007). The exposure level measured in early pregnancy was therefore believed to be representative of the exposure level during the entire pregnancy.…”

“…They cross the placenta (Needham et al 2011) and are released through human milk (Mogensen et al 2015), thereby causing early-life exposure that may be worthy of concern. Due to changes in production, serum concentrations of some PFASs have decreased, although others have increased, including perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS,) perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA) (Glynn et al 2012). …”

A review of sources, multimedia distribution and health risks of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in China

“…For fetuses and infants, two exposure pathways of PFAAs, including maternal-fetal transmission and breast feeding transmission, have attracted intensive attention in recent years (So et al, 2006b;Tao et al, 2008;Liu et al, 2010;Glynn et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2013a,d;Nøst et al, 2014). For fetuses, significant positive correlations have been found between concentrations of PFAAs in paired samples of maternal whole blood and placenta, and between placenta and cord blood (Zhang et al, 2013a) (Fig.…”

Tissue Distribution and Whole Body Burden of the Chlorinated Polyfluoroalkyl Ether Sulfonic Acid F-53B in Crucian Carp (Carassius carassius): Evidence for a Highly Bioaccumulative Contaminant of Emerging Concern

“…9 In 2006, eight leading global companies also agreed to phase out perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and related chemicals by 2015. 10 Although the efforts by industry appear to have had a positive effect in some areas of the world, where time trends of PFOS in humans are decreasing, 11,12 numerous nonregulated replacement chemicals are being produced in increasing quantities. 2,13 A general strategy of the fluorochemical industry has been to substitute PFOS, PFOA, and their related precursors with short-chain homologues containing 4 or 6 carbon atoms.…”